DR.

DAVID COX: Now let's focus our discussion on the inner ear,
where sound is actually transformed from a mechanical pressure wave
into neuronal activity.
The inner ear is a complex structure that's
actually responsible for a few different functions.
The labyrinth of the inner ear is a bony cavity consisting of several parts--
the vestibule, the semicircular canals, and the cochlea.
The vestibule and the semicircular canals
are part of the vestibular system, which allows us to balance.
And the cochlea is part of the auditory system.
The vestibular system is incredibly important.
Without it, you wouldn't be able to stand or move without falling over.
But today we'll focus just on the cochlea, which is
the auditory portion of the inner ear.
The cochlea is where sound vibrations are transformed into neuronal activity.
Cochlea is the Latin word for snail.
And as you'll notice, the curled up cochlea
does look a lot like a snail's shell.
It's a tiny snail's shell, though.
The human cochlea is only about the size of a pea.
Structurally, if we unfurl the cochlea, it's
basically a little hollow tube, whose diameter
diminishes across its length, that's coiled around an axis.
The main tube of the cochlea actually consists of three liquid-filled tubes.
The top tube is called the scala vestibuli.
The bottom is the scala tympani.
And the middle tube is the scala media.
Scala is also a Latin word meaning staircase to describe
how these tubes look like a staircase that winds through the cochlea.
There are two membranes that separate these three tubes--
Reissner's membrane, and the Basilar membrane.
Sitting directly on top of the Basilar membrane
is the organ of Corti, and on top of that is the Tectorial membrane.
The movement of these two membranes turns out
to be extremely important for mechanic transduction.
But more on that later.
The cochlea is filled with two fluids--
the endolymph and the perilymph.
And their ionic composition is part of what
allows hair cells to transmit electrical signals.
The scala vestibuli and the scala tympani
are both filled with the perilymph, which
is pretty similar to cerebrospinal fluid in terms of its ionic content--
low potassium, high sodium.
The scala media, in contrast, is filled with the endolymph.
The endolymph is highly unusual.
It's an extracellular fluid, but it has ionic content
more similar to the intracellular fluids that we
learned about in the first module of this course.
That is, the fluid is high in potassium and low in sodium.
The differences in ionic concentrations between the two fluids
is generated by active transport of ions at the stria vascularis,
which lines one wall of the scala media.
This means that there is an electrical potential of about positive 80
millivolts between the endolymph and the perilymph,
which is highly unusual relative to the arrangement
in most other parts of the nervous system.
Exactly how the active transport that generates
this potential works mechanistically is still an area of active research.